Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday removed Sanjay Jha as the spokesperson and appointed Abhishek Dutt and Sadhna Bharti as national media panelists for the Indian National Congress.

"The Congress president has also approved that Sanjay Jha is dropped as All India Congress Committee spokesperson with immediate effect," the party said in an official statement.

In a tweet on Thursday, Jha mentioned "Pandit Nehru once wrote a self-critical piece anonymously in a newspaper warning against becoming autocratic. That is the true Congress; democratic, liberal, tolerant, inclusive. We have drifted far from those values. Why? I remain committed, fearless ideological soldier of the party". Jha had been the spokesperson for Congress since 2013.

In an article published, last week in a Times of India Mr. Jha had said, "The Congress has demonstrated extraordinary lassitude, and its lackadaisical attitude towards its own political obsolescence is baffling…I would like to call a spade a spade here and a shovel: there has been no serious effort to get the party up and running with any sense of urgency."

Jha also said, "There are many in the party whocannot comprehend this perceptible listlessness. For someone like me, forinstance, permanently wedded to Gandhian philosophy and Nehruvian outlook thatdefines the Congress, it is dismaying to see its painful disintegration".